Two years ago after the successful Summit 2000 conference co-organized by the Association for Media Literacy in Toronto, I was invited to participate in an Asian media literacy tour, making presentations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. It was a rewarding, whirlwind experience. Fortunately, because major changes in the government and/or education were taking place, media literacy's future seemed promising.

In my last visit to Japan, I was invited by Midori Suzuki, whose long standing pioneering work has centered on the Citizen's Forum in Kyoto, which has been important in recognizing the values of media literacy in education. (Suzuki translated the Ontario Media Literacy Resource Guide in 1991.) This time the instigator for my March 2002 visit was Akiko Sugaya from Tokyo. She had spent several years in the United States as a journalist and took up the cause of media literacy (attending conferences, interviewing media education leaders, and reading the literature) with a passion that would shame her North American counterparts. How else can one describe her success in writing a book on the vital role of media literacy which last year became a Japanese best seller!

With ample references in her book to the success of the Ontario-based Association for Media Literacy, I was able to arrive this time with high profile credentials. I spent several days in Tokyo and participated in a media literacy symposium with high school teachers, professors of communication and broadcasters, and presented a media literacy workshop for what they labeled as the "Mell" program (Media and Expression, Learning and Literacy). The Mell group pointed out that their goal was not to bash the media and they insisted that media studies should include a category entitled "media play," a term that suggests a lighthearted, fun element. To illustrate, we were divided into groups and, armed with sticky notes, individuals would insert their own drawings on a big sheet, working with either a new visual idea or one that was inspired by someone else. This was, I presumed, an exercise in group aesthetics.

Throughout the symposia, it was rewarding to talk to a wide variety of people, from broadcasters to classroom teachers. (Incidentally, almost every introduction involves the ritualistic presentation of your business card attended by appropriate bowing.)

Yoshimi Uesigi, Barry Duncan and Sophia Wu

Throughout the trip I was fortunate in having the company of Sophia Wu, the distinguished media educator from Taiwan along with Yoshimi Uesigi, from Nagoya, and currently a visiting educator in Toronto researching material for a doctoral dissertation on Ontario media education. Thank you Yoshimi for being my translator as well as my pipeline to Japanese culture – both popular and traditional.

My typical workshop presentation made the case for grounding media literacy work in the key concepts of media, illustrating them with texts drawn from such sources as TV commercials and the footage of September 11. I provided, for discussion purposes, a list of the key elements for the success of media literacy in the classroom. These are of paramount importance for the future of Japanese media education because media literacy is NOT recognized formally in the curriculum which, in spite of some forthcoming potential spaces for interdisciplinary work, is still too rigid, conservative, and generally lacking in critical thinking skills. My sense was that Japanese media educators are trying to create an auspicious climate for media literacy activities so that it will be seriously considered in the near future by their education officials. At the moment, it borders on being a subversive activity. Thoughtful, visionary media education leaders such as Akiko Sugaya, Midori Suzuki, and Shin Mizukoshi are quietly working behind the scenes.

In this regard, one successful strategy for gaining credibility was a partnership with local television stations in which television producers and technicians collaborated with students in a production class to create a successful TV program. In the process, everyone gained visibility, and everyone felt better about the values of media literacy. Hearing TV producers testifying about having a new perspective on their work through grappling with pedagogical challenges was very revealing. Naoya Hayashi's student production from Nagano on the art of making good noodles was held up as an ideal example of success.

Other highlights included sitting in on a high school television production class in Nagano, participating in a media education forum in Nagoya, visiting Shinshu Television in Nagano and several other television stations for interviews. There were several interviews with the Japanese press, including one with a reporter who had laboriously researched media literacy and had numerous penetrating questions. (I have never had anything as demanding and insightful from the North American media.)

After a media literacy symposium in Nagoya, 30 of us went for dinner and we were ushered into two different sections of the restaurant. As I was leaving and passed by the people with whom I had not dined, they rose to their feet and gave me a round of applause. I made a short speech commending their initiatives, shook hands and left while they were still clapping. I felt like a minor celebrity. (I was thinking if only my Toronto colleagues could see me now!)

There was plenty of time for sight seeing, which included the awesome castle in Matsumoto; the beautiful Buddhist temple Zenko-ji in Nagano – where the monks fortuitously blessed us with their prayer beads as they left the temple; the amazing curative hot springs in Matsumoto; and the abundant pop culture phenomena. (See column below.) A big thank you to my hosts who were so generous in their hospitality and to the many people who contributed to making my whirlwind tour such a success.

(Barry's Bulletin April 2002)